Sucre (Bolivia) - Backpack diariez

We took a local bus to get from Potosi to the colonial city of Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia. Sucre, which hosts the oldest Bolivian university (founded in 1624), is a dynamic student city, much wealthier than other parts of the country. There are plenty of parks, markets, churches and colonial buildings to see so we spent the first days just strolling around the city and tasting some amazing food.

The last day we hiked to the Crater de Maragua, at 50 km from Sucre. Inside the crater are a few small villages that, even though quite close to the large city of Sucre, appear to be completely cut off from the world. The villages, called Jalq’A, are completely isolated by a mountain chain, ‘La Cordillera de los Frailes’, and the crater of the Maragua volcano itself. We had to hike down an extremely well preserved Inca Trail to get there (not to be confused with the famous Machu Picchu Inca Trail). Once inside the crater we were stuck by the living conditions and infrastructure of the local people: it was like taking a step back in time of more than 150 years! People were extremely friendly and we were even allowed to visit some of their huts. We got to see the real rural Bolivia and the great thing was that we were the only tourists miles around!